Who is your enemy?

Published on May 10, 2012June 24, 2012 by lindseybiggs1 Comment

I’ve been reading a great article that I find so apropos to the things going on in the world today. It’s entitled “Truth Handles Crime“.

I have learned from this article is that no person, neighbor or nation is our enemy. Mankind, as the spiritual image and likeness of God, is wholly spiritual, good, trustworthy, and honest. The only enemy we have is what the King James Version of the Bible terms the “carnal mind” (Romans 8:7).

The carnal mind tells us lies about ourself and our neighbor. It tells you that you are jealous, evil, stupid, worthless, incapable, etc. It often comes in the pronouns “I am” (sick, fearful, tired, sensual, angry, unsatisfied) or “they are”(mean, spiteful, trying to take away what is mine/out to get me).

These lies are the enemy. They are trying to defile the Christlike image of God. And these lies have no power because they are not true. When one of these evil “suggestions” comes to our consciousness, we need to recognize what it is, where it is coming from, see that it is a lie and has no power (and not let it in to our thought).

The Bible tells us that “I am” is the name of God. This means “I am” can only be associated with God and His likeness – that which is good, loving, kind, compassionate, strong, trustworthy, eternal, honest, productive, and healthy. This is true of each of us; we naturally express and embody these qualities and inherently want to know/do good.

The article states:

“As we understand these things clearly, we cease to regard each other as enemies. We no longer think that we must get rid of individuals or groups who seem to menace harmony. We refrain from fearing our neighbors and do not appear dangerous to them. It will become increasingly plain to all men that the only agressor there is, is mortal mind, and that it is an illusion. Then its suppositional acts of trespass, invasion, deceit, and destruction will no more have power to harm us, and will cease to seem to occur.”

I believe that holding to the true image of men and women in God’s image and likeness, detecting and uncovering mortal mind/the carnal mind, is what will aid us in overcoming political unrest, a desire to terrorize, feeling impoverished and anything else that would suggest the hate, division and unworthiness of groups or individuals.

Are you being affected by people’s opinions?

Published on April 27, 2012 by lindseybiggsLeave a comment

Are you being ogled?

by Mark Sappenfield, Staff Writer for The Christian Science Monitor

I came across an article with a provocative headline the other day. It read, “Study: Ogling women makes them worse at math.” Basically, the study wanted to figure out what happened when men and women felt objectified, something the researchers defined as people being “judged on body parts or sexual function without regard to other aspects of their personality.” So several members of the study team were trained to stare at men and women in an inappropriate way, then the men and women were asked to take a math test.

The women who were objectified did worse than women in a control group who were not. (The men showed no difference.) Moreover, other research has shown that women do worse on math tests when they are told before starting: “Girls are bad at math.”

We often think of contagion as being a process of microbes and viruses. But how often do we think about mental contagion? Yes, we admit that we are influenced by our friends, our parents, our co-workers. Still, these studies are shocking – showing the degree to which we unconsciously allow others’ thoughts to shape our experience. This is mental tyranny, and thankfully it is something that we can summarily reject.

How? We can start by understanding our origin and nature. Mary Baker Eddy, the author of “Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures” (see p. 525), refers to the Icelandic Bible translation of this verse from the first chapter of Genesis: “And God said, Let us make man after our mind and our likeness; and God shaped man after His mind; after God’s mind shaped He him; and He shaped them male and female” (verse 27).

So all that we are is the likeness of God’s mind. We are not a body to be ogled or a brain of doubtful mathematical aptitude. We are an image of God’s thought, and the allness of God precludes the intrusion of anything unlike this perfect likeness in this image. This frees us from aggressive mental intrusion… Read more

Thoughts on gratitude

Published on April 20, 2012April 19, 2012 by lindseybiggsLeave a comment

I really appreciate the blog series my husband is doing right now. It is inspired by a book that we are both reading for our book club: 365 Thank Yous. It’s a wonderful story about a man/dad who is down in the dumps; his business is falling apart; his relationships with his family & friends aren’t great. One day he gets the idea (I would call this a spiritual idea, “angel” message or the Christ) which tells him to write thank you notes! It’s New Years Eve when he gets this message so he vows to write 365 thank you notes in the New Year. The rest of the book (which I haven’t finished yet) is about how this practice transforms his thought, life and relationships.

It is a delightful book. I get such a sense of joy when reading it, and it reminds me how the simple act of gratitude can really brighten my day. I may even start a “thank you” note project of my own! (My husband is doing his thank you note project on his blog.)

What is it about gratitude that makes us feel so light and joyful? It reminds us of the good in our lives and puts Good at the forefront of thought. The human mind is so prone to magnify evil or the negative. Often this mind ruminates over the past. It’s like a treadmill of worry and fear. Apparently, humans think 2,000-3,000 thoughts per day. And I’ve heard that 70% of these thoughts are the same each day. We have to jump off this same old treadmill of thought and think differently! And gratitude is a fun, light way to do that.